REVIEW

OF FABER'S DIFFICULTIES OF ROMANISM.

The difficulties of Romanism. By George Stanley Faber, B. D. Rector of Long Newton. London printed. Philadelphia reprinted-Tower & Hogan, 1829. 12mo. pp.

293.

At first view, scarcely any thing could appear more wonderful, than that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and especially in this country, where more than nineteen twentieths of the whole population are Protestants, it should be deemed necessary to put any portion of these Protestants on their guard against the allurements of Popery. The system of superstition and of spiritual tyranny built up by the Church of Rome, is so manifestly unscriptural; so unreasonable; so essentially subversive of all the rights of conscience,, and of private judgment; and so utterly at war with all the interests of good morals, that it might be supposed no intelligent man or woman in the country could be in the smallest danger of becoming a convert to such a system. But, after all, the stubborn matter of fact is, that such danger really exists. There are those to whom, in the midst of Bibles, and of Protestant feelings, the system of the Papacy presents a real and formidable temptation. The appearance of this book on the other side of the Atlantic, taken in connexion with its history, is proof enough that this is the fact in Great Britain. And its republication in this country, is sufficient evidence, that, in the opinion of good judges, such a work is needed among ourselves. We think, moreover, that the existence of this necessity will cease to surprise those who look somewhat attentively at the subject.

Many, indeed, seem to consider that system of religious belief and practice, which Mr. FABER very properly designates by the term, Romanism, as a sort of spiritual and ecclesiastical monster, which has arisen in some unaccountable manner, and which is reducible to no rules but those of the all-grasping ambition of profligate ecclesiastics. But this is certainly a superficial view of the subject. The system of Popery is no lusus naturæ. It is no chance medley work. It is the religion of human nature. As Mr. Toplady has said that every man is born an Arminian; so it has also been said, and with equal truth, that "every man is born a Papist." That is, every man is born with such principles and tendencies as, left to themselves, will naturally conduct him to the substance of this system, as the foundation of his hope, and the guide of his life. The Bible represents the condition and character of man, by nature, as truly deplorable and alarming. He is corrupt in his original: a rebel against God: born in a state of total alienation from Him: under his righteous displeasure, as well as altogether indisposed to his service and communion. And unless he receive both pardoning mercy, and sanctifying grace, he must perish. For his deliverance from this guilt and pollution, the same Bible which unfolds his disease and his danger, proclaims an effectual remedy; a remedy as wonderful as it is glorious. A remedy, however, which, throughout, takes away all glorying from the sinner, and lays him in the dust of abasement. The plan of deliverance is this-A Divine Redeemer has consented to become the substitute of the guilty; to obey and suffer in their room; and to bring in everlasting righte ousness for their justification. He has, in a word, "finished transgression, made an end of sin, and made reconciliation for iniquity;" so that all who believe in his name, are freely justified from all things, from which they could not be justified by the deeds of the law. It is never to be forgotten, however, that this plan of pardon is essentially and necessa

rily connected with a plan of sanctification. The work of the Holy Spirit on the heart of the rebel, reconciling him to God, his character, his law, his government, and his humbling plan of mercy, is one of the chief blessings purchased by the Redeemer; who died, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God; that he might "purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Hence, justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ is invariably accompanied by a radical change in the character as well as the state of the happy individual. "Whom He justifies, them he also sanctifies." The sinner is not only brought into a new relation, the result of which is pardon and peace with God; but he is also a new creature. He is born aguin;-born of the Spirit-he commences a new and spiritual life. From this hour, he is no more a rebel, but a son; for to "as many as believe, to them is given power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe in his name, who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." From this hour, so far as the spirit of this new life reigns within him, his course is marked by hatred of sin; by a crucifixion of the flesh with the affections and lusts; together with a sincere love of holy obedience, and a cordial desire to please and glorify God. In short, it is his habitual aim and prayer to "die unto sin, and live unto righteousness;" the love of Christ constrains him to live, not unto himself, but unto Him who died for him, and rose again. And, although he continues to sin as long as he is in the body, yet he daily mourns that it has so much influence over him. He strives and prays against it. And his only hope for new pardon, as he commits new offences, is in that atoning sacrifice of his Divine Surety, to whose blood he penitently applied in the first act of believing, and on whose merit he relied, and still relies, for his whole and final justification. Such, as we read the Bible, is the representation which it gives of

real Christianity. It is A SYSTEM OF GRACE THROUGHOUT; -grace in the original purpose; grace in the execution; grace in the whole plan of acceptance; grace in the application to each individual of the purchased salvation; grace in sustaining and bearing him forward in the spiritual warfare; grace in his final preparation for, and admission to the joy and glory of his Lord;-free grace ;-rich grace ;-sovereign, distinguishing grace.

It is perfectly obvious that this plan of mercy, not only cuts off all pretence of glorying on the part of the sinner; but that there is no principle more directly and irreconciliably hostile to the whole economy of salvation by Christ, than the doctrine of HUMAN MERIT. To rely upon our own righteousness or strength in the matter of salvation, is to attack Christianity, if the expression may be allowed, in its most vital organ. It is to make God, in all the proclamations of his grace, "a liar;" it is to trample on the blood of Him who was "made sin for us," as an unnecessary, and therefore as a wantonly shed-and, of course, "as an unholy thing." If there be any doctrine which contradicts the whole spirit, and every offer of the plan of mercy through a Redeemer, it is, undoubtedly, the doctrine that any thing man has done, or can do, moral or ceremonial, merits the Divine favour, or forms any part of the price of heaven. This, we have no doubt, is the substance of Christianity; which no man ever cordially received but by the Spirit of God; and yet, without receiving which, in its leading features, no man will ever be recognised by a holy God, as a Christian.

Nothing, however, is more certain, than that the plan of acceptance with God which has just been sketched, is, of all others, that which is most distasteful to the natural feelings of man. Pride, which is "the condemnation and snare of the devil," is equally the " condemnation and snare" of man. Guilty and polluted as the sinner is, he has an innate pro

pensity to trust in himself, or in something done, or intend ed to be done, by himself, to avert the displeasure, and merit the favour of heaven. The hope of being in some way, his own Saviour, is the last which he abandons, when brought to embrace the Gospel in sincerity and truth. The tendency of our nature is to cleave to ANY THING BUT CHRIST. The impenitent sinner is willing to undergo the heaviest drudgery of rites and ceremonies; to submit to the severest penances; to make long journies; to pay large sums of money; in short, to lacerate his body, and tax his purse, as far as he can bear, if by these he can enjoy the prospect of gaining the heavenly paradise. Any, or all these, he is willing to give for such a prospect; but his heart he will not give. To" receive the kingdom of God as a little child;" to submit with penitence and humility to the righteousness of God by faith, he cannot yield.

Now, to relieve this impenitent and unyielding mind— which is the mind of all men by nature-the system of Romanism comes in with the most plausible and fascinating allurements. It meets him with a system of most ingenious expedients for removing every difficulty, and satisfying every doubt, without the sacrifice of a single lust. It persuades him that if he be in regular connexion with the Roman Church, he is, of course, in real covenant and communion with Christ-that there is no need of any radical change of heart, provided he will submit to the dictation and discipline of the constituted authorities of that Church:-that by the sacrament of Baptism, a priest can regenerate him, and that no other change than that which baptism includes, need be sought or expected that by this baptism, when regularly administered, all his sins are taken away, and he reconciled to God:-that by a regular attendance on the sacrament of Penance, all his sins committed, from time to time, after baptism, may be certainly forgiven :-and that, by a regular confession and absolution during life, and the reception of ex